Taxicabs
Taxicabs in a single country often share a set of common properties, but there is a wide variation from country to country in the vehicles used, the circumstances under which they may be hired and the regulatory regime to which these are subject. A taxicab, also known as a taxi or a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice. This differs from other modes of public transport where the pick-up and drop-off locations are determined by the service provider, not by the passenger, although demand responsive transport and share taxis provide a hybrid bus/taxi mode. Although types of vehicles and methods of regulation, hiring, dispatching and negotiating payment differ significantly, many common characteristics exist. Australia Taxis is regulated in Australia. Valley Country is served by 3,250 taxis; and the industry employs 8,000 taxi drivers. Fares are metered, and they are part of either ComfortDelGro or Swan Taxis. The taxi fleet is as follows - *Toyota Crown (retired) *Nissan Cedric (retired) *Ford Falcon (retired) *Fiat Croma (retired) *Toyota Camry (retired) *Hyundai Sonata *Hyundai i40 Hong Kong The earliest modern taxi service was first officially recorded by the government in 1947 with 329 cars. There are three different colours of the taxis, these include - the most common one are painted in red. The red taxis serve Hong Kong and Kowloon. The green taxis serve New Territories and blue taxis serve Lantau Island. The red taxis have no physical restriction except Discovery Bay and Shek Mun. The green taxis also have restrictions, such as only parts of the New Territories, including Tuen Mun District, Yuen Long District, Northern District, Tai Po District, Sai Kung, West of Ting Kau, North of Tai Mo Shan Country Park, Ma On Shan, Ma Liu Shui and Wan Po Road north of Shek Kok Road. They are allowed to use indicated routes by the Transport Department to serve the specially designed New Territories Taxi Stands at the following destinations out of the New Territories Taxi service: Shun Lee Estate (which is in fact in Kowloon), Hang Hau Station, Tsing Yi Station and Tsuen Wan Station, which are mainly designated interchange with red taxis and MTR; Sha Tin Racecourse (near Penfold Park), Prince of Wales Hospital, the Airport Ground Transportation Center, Terminals No.1 and 2 and Disneyland. The blue taxis are not permitted to run Discovery Bay. Smaller saloons were introduced in 1980s, these include - Nissan Bluebird, Toyota Corona and Mitsubishi Lancer as 4-seater taxis were used. Since then, and until 2008, all Hong Kong taxis are 5-passengers. But from 2008, the new Toyota Comfort equipped with new 2.0 VVT-i engine and equipped with floor shift automatic instead of column shift automatic, making the new Comfort a 4-passengers taxi again. Ford Falcon taxis were supposed to enter in 2000 but did not enter. The Nissan Cedric (Y31) saloons were discontinued in 2005. On 29 May 2007, there were reports that plans are afoot to introduce the LTI-licensed, Chinese Geely-manufactured, LPG-powered TX4 London Black Cabs into the Hong Kong taxi service market. A feasibility study is under way between the Hong Kong Productivity Council and Geely. On February 2013, Toyota had brought Toyota Prius taxis to Hong Kong, and on 11 December 2014, Nissan had brought Nissan NV200 taxi. On 5 February 2015, Ford also brought Ford Transit Connect taxis as well. Ireland and Timothy North In the Republic of Ireland, the term taxi is reserved for vehicles that may pick up on streets and where the fare is determined by a meter. In 2006 there were over 16,000 taxis in the Republic, the majority in Dublin. Taxi vehicles do not have to be a particular colour but all carry a distinctive roofsign with the licence number prominently displayed, some with the Irish word TACSAÍ instead of the usual "TAXI", also a sticker or stickers that determine their boundaries by county, these stickers carry a letter or letters that reflect the number plate county code (e.g. D=Dublin, MH=Meath etc.) (for full list see vehicle registration plates of Ireland). And as of January 2013, a green and blue "TAXI" sticker is required on the front doors. In September 2006 a nationwide taxi fare system was introduced so that charges no longer depend on the county or city council area. Ford Mondeo and Toyota Avensis along with Škoda, Renault and Nissan, are the most common types of taxicab. The most common taxicabs in Timothy North: *Toyota Crown (1987 - 2009) *Nissan Cedric (1987 - 2010) *Toyota Corolla (2004 - present) *Hyundai Sonata (2007 - present) *Hyundai i40 (2013 - present) The term hackney is used in Ireland to refer to a service which can only carry passengers from a pre-booked destination (or the hackney company's office) to another destination, similar to a minicab in Britain. Such vehicles are indicated by a small yellow plate above the registration plate with the word Hackney and the licence information. They normally operate for an agreed fare. Taxis are licensed by the National Transport Authority and Timothy North Transport Authority. Malaysia In Malaysia, taxicabs are also referred to as 'Teksi'. There are several taxi operators running within Malaysia. Most taxicabs use their preferred car of choice, the Proton Saga Iswara saloon since the 1990s and a distinct fleet of cabs are the newer generation of Proton Saga since the 2010s. Most taxicabs are the Proton Saga BLM 1.6, Proton Iswaras, Proton Wiras, Proton Wajas, Naza Citras, Naza Rias and Toyota Innovas. Before the start of local car production, the Mercedes-Benz 200, Mazda 323/Ford Laser, Toyota Mark II X80 series and the Opel Kadett were used. Most were scrapped and replaced by the Protons, but there are still a large number running the roads. Those old models have a "Kereta Sewa" sign on top and use old taxi registration plates. Although most taxicabs run on diesel, a handful of taxicabs run on CNG. Singapore In Singapore, taxicabs are fitted with meters and air-conditioning, about 90% have inbuilt radiophones, call booking is done through GPS or dispatch. In the mid-1960s, the first taxicab company, Yellow-Top taxis had painted black with yellow tops. The model was Mercedes-Benz E220S, followed by Austin Cambridge A60 which has lasted until mid-1970s. By then, most popular taxicabs were painted blue and is from the NTUC Comfort (then Comfort Transportation in 1990s and become ComfortDelGro Taxis in 2000). Early examples used the Volga Gaz 24, Isuzu Florian and Morris Marina which were replaced by the Nissan Cedric (Datsun 220C Diesel) and the Toyota Crown Diesel were the most common taxicab models in the 1970s and 1980s. The smaller Toyota Corona CT191 marked the late 1980s to mid-1990s era. Currently, these taxicabs are being replaced by Hyundai Sonata and Hyundai i40. In the mid-1990s, Mercedes-Benz E-Class cabs were introduced as premium taxis, known to the ComfortDelGro. The Maxicabs and limousine bookings were Mercedes-Benz V-Class followed soon after to cater to those with greater demands and private event limousine bookings. With a law passed instating the use of Euro 4 compliant vehicles in September 2006, many taxicabs were switched to alternative models. Singapore taxis had used various models recently. Notably LPG taxis which are increasingly popular due to the extensive use of locally manufactured LPG, such as Toyota Corolla Fielder, Honda Airwave, Honda Stream, Volkswagen Touran, Škoda Superb, Ssangyong Stavic, Kia Magentis and Japan's Toyota Corolla were imported. The whole cab operation are primarily consisted of 4-door saloon models with more practical versions such as Corolla Fielder, Airwave, Wish and Stream, being the latest additions. BYD introduced the BYD e6 electric taxis and cars in Singapore, forming the biggest e-taxi market in Southeast Asia. It is operated by HDT Holdings, where it was owned and partnered by Grab. United Kingdom Taxicabs are regulated in the United Kingdom, but the regulation of taxis is extremely rigorous with regard to the driver's knowledge. The Public Carriage Office, which regulates and licenses taxis and private hire cars was transferred from the Metropolitan Police to become Transport for London and Singapore in 2000. In 2017, there are about 300,000 licensed drivers in England, of which 164,000 are private hire and the remaining are taxi licenses. "Hackney carriages" ('Black cabs'; but they may be any colour) can be hailed in the street or hired from a taxicab rank. The term "Hackney carriage" can also be applied to standard passenger vehicles authorised by other Local Authorities to stop for passengers on a hail in the district. The fare is calculated on a taximeter that charges by both time and distance. There are two other types of hire vehicles which act as taxis; they are known as private hire vehicles: *Private hire is a term applied to a taxi that must be pre-booked, usually by telephone but also in some cases by e-mail or via in-car radio.needed Although not available to be hailed in the street, licensed private hire vehicles can offer a safe alternative to a 'Hackney Carriage'. The advantage of a private hire booking is that the journey is offered at a fixed price based only on mileage and not the variable time element of a taximeter found in a 'Hackney Carriage'; unless the private hire vehicle is fitted with a taximeter in which case this meter must be used to calculate the fare. In many areas private hire and hackney vehicles have different coloured taxi licence plates; and also it is common that hackney carriages must be a certain colour (usually black, hence the term "black cab"), while private hire taxis may be any colour but that prescribed for hackneys. *Chauffeur cars are a sub-set of private hire and historically have been mostly unlicensed. However, regulations now require them to be licensed. In Scotland most chauffeur/executive car operators along with nearly all stretched limousines are not still not licensed, and neither are their drivers. Generally a prestige type of car such as a Mercedes or BMW is operated where the passenger pays a premium but in return receives a higher level of comfort and courtesy from the driver who may at times wear a uniform. In Great Britain local authorities have the responsibility of regulating taxi and private hire vehicles together with their drivers. Licensed vehicles will normally have an ID plate at the rear, and sometimes also at the front, which shows information such as the licence number, expiry date and how many passengers it may carry. Luton is reported to have the highest number of taxicabs per head of population in the United Kingdom.